I told Mr. L about my enjoyment of "Hitch-22" and he was intrigued enough that he might give it a listen as well. I knew very little of Christopher Hitchens before, beyond the basic atheist banner he waves around and that he wrote extensively in support of the Iraq invasion, which makes my head hurt. Oh, and his reputation as a big boozer, but that's more from a couple of older friends who are familiar with his writing. I don't believe I'd ever heard his name before 2001. I was expecting some family background and some gossipy tales of boozing it up with big name writers, all done in a very entertaining style. I'm getting all of that, but I didn't expect the very compelling story of his mother, his extreme left wing politics in the 60s and his recollections of a great (but mostly chaste) romance he had with another boy during his boarding school days. I'm still in the memoir somewhere around 1974, so I couldn't explain to Mr. L how Hitchens managed to become someone who is viewed as conservative. I saw Hitchens labeled as a neocon when he debated Chris Hedges, but he doesn't sound like a neocon to me, at least not yet. Very interested to hear the rest.
Next up, "Hitch-22" by Christopher Hitchens. He should be pretty entertaining and the kind of author that Mr. L can't stand, what with the general dickishness he cultivates in himself. Um, that would be Hitchens, not Mr. L. Mr. L just looks puzzled and a little disappointed anytime I spend time with someone like Hitchens. It's something like the ongoing mini-conversations we've had about Anthony Bourdain, although Bourdain is more of a clown and has grown on Mr. L. in small measures by my streaming of older No Reservations episodes. He will pop his head into the TV room once in a while, look at the screen and then pronounce "I don't like him", then leave the room. It's nicer than what he used to say.
I haven't downloaded and listened to any podfics in a while. It feels like I'm just taking a break, until I find myself in a new fandom and I must consume as much fic as quickly as possible.
I downloaded "The Passage" hoping for a sort of "The Stand" redux, done at least as well as that book turned out to be. I loved it as a teenager. Was it 20 years ago already since "The Stand" was published? More? Anyway, I still think of King's novel as the most fun you can have while you read about the end of the world. I'm at almost at a quarter of the way through, and the author seems to have decided that descriptions of the world falling apart have been done enough times. I'm a bit disappointed, but yeah, he handles it pretty well by only giving glimpses, which in a some ways is a lot scarier.
I just realized I haven't downloaded podfic in a while. I have to go and see what's been posted in the last few months. So many things to listen to! Podfics, audiobooks and podcasts (Spill and /Filmcast are my current favorites), but only so much time to listen.
I think part one of 2666, the one about The Critics, works in English sort of OK, but the closer I got in the narrative to the town of Santa Teresa, the more I realized I had to dump the audiobook. Hrrmp!
Now I need to download some podfic, to listen to instead.